Noida witnessed over 40,000 garment workers' protest in April, 2026. This was not just attributed to wages, but also over the physical impossibility to survive a 12-hour work shift in temperatures reaching 42 degrees celsius. India has now operationalised its four new labour codes, consolidating 29 statutes. At the centre of this transition is the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions, Code, 2020, ('OSHWC Code') which remains vague on safeguards for workers working in thermal stress and reducing heat induced injuries. Across major industrial clusters like Noida, Chennai, Surat, and Gurugram, workers are nowadays exposed to humidity, industrial heat, long standing hours that combine to strain their renal and cardiovascular health. ILO's 2024 report found that 2.41 billion workers are exposed to serious heat, which results in 22.85 million injuries at workplace and 18,970 deaths annually. It is also noted that nine out of ten heat exposures and eight out of ten heat-related workplace injuries are outside the officially declared heatwaves. This suggests that heat at workplace is not just a mere disaster management issue but a routine hazard that requires serious regulation. This article suggests that labour rights in the present climate change era cannot be confined to just wages and Indian labour laws must recognize the physiological limits under extreme conditions as a part of an ergonomic mandate.
Heat stress and worker's body
In heat-stressed environments, the body's response to reduce heat creates a 'tug-of-war' situation, where the heart must simultaneously supply to muscles for labour, the brain to prevent syncope, and the skin for cooling. The impact is most acute on the kidneys. To preserve blood flow to skin and heart, the body reduces the supply of oxygenated blood to kidneys. Clinical findings have presented an epidemic of kidney injuries induced by heat among various occupational workers. Another study also highlighted activation of certain inflammasomes in the heart during environmental stress, which acts as molecular trigger for cardiovascular disease, with even as few as ten days of acute exposure.
Factories Act and the shift to OSHWC Code
The Factories Act, 1948 treated heat as a health issue. Particularly Chapter III dealt with 'ventilation and temperature' under Section 13 and 'artificial humidification' under section 15. Section 13(2) also empowered the State Governments to notify specific standards of ventilation, temperature and measurement records. This approach allowed a much faster response to local climatic and industrial conditions. The same act also recognized ergonomic welfare through section 44 (facilities for sitting).
However, Section 23 of the OSHWC Code strips away this region-specific power from States and now consolidates it with the Central Government to prescribe standards relating to ventilation, temperature, humidity, and cooling. Canteens are mandated only for establishments with more than 100 workers, and crèches only for those with more than 50 women workers. Such an approach denies the workers in small establishments their rights under Article 21 of Indian Constitution and Hon'ble Supreme Court's interpretation to include 'right to health and dignified working conditions' as held in the case of Consumer Education & Research Centre and Others v. Union Of India And Others.
What India Can Learn from Global Practice
India's regulatory gap is clear when compared to California's Indoor Heat Guidelines which was amended in 2025. They provide for mandatory cool drinking water and cool-down areas, along with stricter air conditioning, swamp coolers and mandatory work-rest cycles at higher WBGT levels. They also mandate a 14-day 'acclimatisation' for new or returning workers. This allows new workers to be exposed to 20% of the workload on their day one, increasing it by same percentage gradually to minimize stress. The UK's Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, Regulation 11 requires a proper seat to be provided unless the work requires the worker to be standing. This legislation has also prescribed footrests as a safety requirement.
France has a 'droit de retrait' or the right to withdraw from work in the event of 'grave and imminent danger'. Article L. 4131-1 of the French Labour Code already provides for a list of 'occupational risk factors' which includes 'activities carried out in hyperbaric environment and extreme temperatures.'
This can be implemented in India, when IMD issues a “Severe Heat Wave” or “Red Alert” for a region, and an employer has failed to adopt heat mitigation measures, workers should have the statutory right to cease work without reduction in their wages. This will help the “piece-rate trap” to a great extent where workers in Noida or Chennai continue to work in extreme heat because they cannot afford losing a day's pay.
Excessive heat at work is becoming an increasingly acknowledged concern even in international labour standards. In 2022, the International Labour Organization (ILO) declared a safe and healthy working environment as one of its 'fundamental principles and rights at work,' which requires the member countries to establish effective protection from occupational hazards, which must include 'heat stress' in view of the present climate.
Reforming the Code and way forward
In this context, the effectiveness of the OSHWC Code will eventually depend in its ability to evolve with the present reality of climate change and modern workplaces. This requires Section 24 of the OSHWC Code, governing the “Welfare Provisions,” to be evolved from a discretionary list into a set of technical mandates with flexible enforceability. Ergonomic protections must be a part of safety rather than welfare. A recent example in Kerala and Tamil Nadu with the inclusion of 'right to sit' demonstrates that health and workplace safety are not just a matter of convenience, but one of dignity and humane conditions.
Therefore, integration of factors such as seating and thermal rest zones, introducing a 'right to withdrawal' (during extreme heat events and poor safety infrastructure at workplace), using the WBGT as the official heat index and allowing States to respond to local conditions will ensure that India create a labour regime that is truly humane and climate responsive.
Views are personal.